I finished the game in about 90hrs. A lot has been discussed on the game's strengths and not-so-flattering points so far, but here's my two cents.
I think the open world structure did the game a lot of harm than any good it could gain by implementing such sprawling, and wasteful, areas. Driving sucks, walking sucks, everything about this open world sucks. I hate the way the reflections do not include your own character, as if the game is saying I don't belong and condemned forever to a warped ghost. You go up the mountain to view the open vistas and see the fake traffic congesting dirt roads middle of nowhere, going nowhere. Day is blindingly bright and night is garishly bright. In my opinion, there is almost nothing in terms of mechanics that the open world provides the game aside from spurts of unintentional hilarity amid a sea of tedium. It is quite appalling and frankly shocking how utterly useless and devoid of redeeming qualities this open world is in this game.
One thing that is quite obvious from the start are the numerous fast travel terminals that diminish the distance and size of areas in traversal, although they stood firm on providing lots of verticality by keeping those interminable last-gen elevator rides. It's almost as if CDPR detests their own creation and want people to move on to the next objective or Keanu moments as fast as possible rather than ogling all the little glitches and bugs. Honestly, I think it is beyond salvageable, they might as well put a big 'There is nothing to see here' sign on top of Arasaka Tower and be done with it. it is total uncanny black hole that saps the life out of environment and enjoyment the moment you step a foot in it. This is no living world, just instanced ambience projector that recedes into flat, fake, glitch-ridden background, good only for photo mode to show off your raytraced e-peen.
Speaking of that wasteful graphical fad, I harped on this game's obsession with raytracing from the moment the news became public and it probably is one reason why optimization flopped so hard on last gen consoles. They just had to reach for that poisoned apple of exclusivity and be another spatula in Jensen Huang's belt clip. Someone must've been on some coke-induced raging fever dream to suggest it runs well on PS4. The tragedy here is that the game looks perfectly fine and even quite glorious without this feature.
As for the game's written content, I was dead set against dealing with any Arasaka branch of main story from the beginning yet the game force feeds me more and more Arasaka crap like fattening up geese for slaughter. All leading up to that supposed mission past the point of no return where you meet someone critical and stumble onto a big decision moment a la some cheap, scripted game show where the final question wins you what feels like fat trimmings instead of foie gras, nevermind all the dialogues and choices I had to inspect due to unintentional crouching skipping them. My player agency matters like some cheap Joy Toy while the game flutters, preens, and finally suffocates in its cinematic splendor and gets ensnared in its own web of narratives.
All in all, dreadful gonk of a game weighed down by its own pretensions and ass backwards priorities of what makes a game an RPG or let alone, a game. I can't believe CDPR spent more than $350 million, 8 years, and 3 delays on this relic of a game, it's digital Cleopatra accelerating demise of high production, AAA-centric era, which is a positive in the end. Maybe if those $350 million weren't all spent on supplying coke to whoever suggested the game runs well on PS4, it might've given ample opportunity to many developers to hone their crafts to give fruition to their own bright ideas after setting out on their own paths of game development.
Verdict: Too much breathtaking, a sad flatlined footnote
